Cc Meeting - Regular Meeting

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Okay.

Ladies and gentlemen, call the work session to order for Monday, July 27th. Roll call. Dr. Johnson is absent. Mr. Kitchen said he was going to be late this evening. Ms. Banks? Present. Ms. Copeland? Present. Mr. McElroy? Present. And Mr. Griswold? Present. All right. And ladies and gentlemen, if you'll please turn off or silence your cell phones. And let's have a motion to go into closed session. Where is it? Do you have that?

I move that the City of Franklin, Virginia convene, the City Council of Franklin, Virginia convene to close session pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A-1 for the purposes of real estate, legal matters, and appointments.

All right. I have a motion and a second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. I'll take a vote. I'll start with Ms. Banks. Go ahead. Ms. Copeland? Aye.

Aye.

Aye. And aye. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to stay in this room, so if...

all right pursuant to the requirements of virginia code section 2.2-3712 i move the city council of franklin virginia reconvene in open meeting okay have a motion a motion a second all those in favor okay um you can let folks in and then we'll do certification

Yeah. All right. Votes for certification.

I move that each council member certify that to the best of his or her knowledge, one, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and two, only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered, and the closed meeting just concluded.

I certify. I certify.

I certify.

I certify. I certify. I certify.

And I certify. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we're back in open session, obviously. First item on the open agenda meeting is Habitat for Humanity. And do you want to give anything?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, we're pleased to ask to come to the podium. I know we're very limited on time, but I did want to share with you Habitat for Humanity has done a wonderful job, not only in the region but across the country. And our local representatives here in the Western Tidewater area, we had a conversation in my office and they have also spoken with in detail with Deputy City Manager Josh Gillespie in terms of like wanting to see how we can develop a partnership. and connect with each other and cultivate that for affordable housing opportunities for the citizens, for the residents of the city of Franklin. So they made a very gracious overture to come and speak to council. So I would also like at this time to introduce the Habitat staff that we have here today, starting with Megan Savali, who's the executive director, as well as Marshall Vernon and also Amber Combinato, who's the manager of the Franklin Restore House. So I'd like to welcome them to the podium to kind of talk about what they do briefly and to see if council would like to talk with them as well and about establishing a relationship, a close relationship with if you'll swing the microphone over there.

Good evening. Good evening.

Thank you so much for having us. Um, I will make this quick. I know we're short on time, but, um, in early 2024, a habitat international approached habitat for humanity of South Hampton roads to merge with the Franklin affiliate so that it did not shut its doors. So in July of 2025, we officially took over the Franklin. merged with the Franklin affiliate which if you don't already know that there is a very successful restore over here that amber manages and then we also do home ownership and critical home repairs so our mission is to provide affordable and stable housing and for homeowners and we do that in those two ways through our home ownership program which many of you are probably familiar with that is the new construction but we also have a critical home repair program where we provide a critical home repair such as roof replacements HVAC replacements windows and doors hot water heater replacements at no cost to the homeowner Both of these programs are funded by a diverse funding sources, one of them being a restore. So the profit from our restore goes directly back into our mission. We also are able to leverage that funding to receive grants with local foundations such as Blocker, Obese, United Way, all of those folks. And then from there, we're able to leverage those two sources for home and CDBG funding. So those help fund both our new home ownership program as well as our critical home repair program. And I will let Marshall speak to the specific programs and what we're currently doing in Franklin.

Thank you.

Once again, thank you for having us so I am the director of operations for habitat my chief role right now is to Oversee the expansion out west so what I'm here to do today is excitedly announce the house that we're building on Stonewall Street That'll be the first house that we focus on We already have the lot as per owned by the previous affiliate, but I did bring the plans for you guys to check it out We are excited about it I also wanted to say that coming from the eastern side of our region and dealing with a lot of red tape, the city has been extremely helpful through this process as we try to get this construction up and running. We also secured funding that we've specifically going to target Franklin with that is going to be specific for a critical home repair program. which is for homeowners like megan stated our goal is to get this house started before the end of the year pretty well underway as well as complete 10 repairs with the funding that we've sequestered specifically in the city of franklin very nice so the home home repair could be as she said things like leaking roofs and and exactly so it could be either repaired or replaced either one Well, no, we don't. So when we say repair, we're repairing the house by replacing the part. We do a full roof replacement, full HVAC replacement. What we're doing is we're keeping seniors, veterans, and persons with disabilities in the house. They're less of a burden to the state that way, and it keeps homeowners on the block, which is the biggest thing that we're trying to do is create more home ownership in the city of Franklin.

Question. Very, very happy to see you guys. My question is, how did you pick 424 Stonewall? Because the reason I'm really excited, that's in my ward.

Like I said, that was a lot that was actually previously owned by the affiliate. I think they took ownership over it four or five years ago. Josh Gillespie and I looked it over. Like I said, it was one that was already owned. There's a couple of lots that they have, but our hope is that this is going to really set the pace and we see uh the building out here being a lot easier um with the with how willing the city is to work with us and you know it's it's unheard of for me to get a response in the same day from the city official back or in norfolk so that's that's why we're really trying to focus here thank you so very much for all you thank you yeah is there any questions uh i don't um anybody down the road dr johnson anything

Thank you.

We appreciate that. Well, yeah, there's a plans are for you to take home share. We're still accepting applications for that first home, first time home buyers. The applications can be of course picked up at our restore, but that's the plans. Uh, so we wanted to share that with you.

I know these are cheap to copy.

No, actually we just ran them through our printer. No, they're not the full on and they haven't been architecturally stamped. So we're working, like I said, zoning and, uh, building has been very helpful. We just, we're so excited about, we're kind of getting it out beforehand. All right, thank you very much.

I used to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity store back some years ago, yes.

Yeah, we can't do it without volunteers. So 85% of our homes are built with volunteer hours. So that's going to be a key part of what we're doing out here. We're hoping to work with the community college and work on some workforce development and kind of get that tied into what we're doing.

And I'd be willing to come to the store to try to help out.

Hey, Amber, she's the lady to talk to. But if you want to come out in the build site, we'll take you there, too. Fair enough. All right.

Thank you. Jimmy Carter was doing it in his late nineties. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Our most famous volunteer. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm hoping to volunteer myself. Good. Thank you very much. Thank you. How is the store? Is the store profitable for you?

Yes. Yes.

We're doing very well. Very good.

So on record was the affiliate started to fold and management kind of the board didn't, wasn't able to keep up. Amber kept that thing running on her own. We inherited that with no issues, you know, so a lot of, you know, congratulations should go to her because without her, we wouldn't have had the face when we came out here a year ago.

So very good. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Um, David, uh, since Josh is on vacation, uh, in the, in Costa Rica, posting pictures with his family. Um, rental inspection district to view.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, we'll continue on with, uh, with the presentation. I'm going to go to the podium.

Okay.

So, Mayor and Council, my pleasure to talk with you about something I'm real familiar with, the Rental Inspection District. And as you alluded to, Mr. Mayor, Josh is not here, so I'm actually gonna make the presentation for him on the Rental Inspection District. There we go. So why are we here today? In terms of an overview, attended a recent town hall with the vice mayor and there were a number of issues that came out of the town hall meeting and I believe Councilman McLemore was also in attendance at that meeting as well. Dorchester Apartments was identified as a development, apartment development that was considered to be in need of a lot of code enforcement attention, blight attention. So I was very curious because I was a featured speaker there that evening and it was well attended. And I appreciate even after the meeting, some of the stakeholders along with the vice mayor said, let's head on out there and let's walk that facility and meet some of the residents and talk with them and find out what some of the concerns are directly. So I was appreciative of having that opportunity to walk through there that evening before the sun went down. So we responded to that and I think it was it was universally requested that we look into the possibility of establishing what they call a rental inspection district. I know we're hurting for time, but essentially overview of the rental inspection district. And I'm going to summarize the next few slides. It's an overview of applicable state code requirements. I'm going to let them stay on the screen for a few seconds per slide. So the folks that are on TV can look at it and they can see the applicable code sections. I'm not going to read them because it's quite wordy, if you will. But the code requirements are around section 36-105.1 subsection one, rental inspection districts, rental districts, exemptions, penalties, And they also cover findings, notifications, public hearing requirements. There are public hearing requirements. Inspection types and when. That's just to name a few. So again, I'm going to advance these slides for the viewers that are on TV so they can have the opportunity to take a look at them very briefly. But each one of these slides cover what I just mentioned, and I'm going to advance through them for the sake of time. Okay, I'm going to pick back up on this presentation here. So for those who are not familiar with the Dorchester apartment development, this is an aerial pictometry of the Dorchester apartment complex. One of the things I mentioned was one of the requirements is that you have to have findings and you also have to designate a rental inspection district. That is a requirement out of state code. If you were to consider adopting a rental inspection district, staff's recommendation at this time is to consider that area. If upon looking at this again and walking the community, there was also the discussion that perhaps maybe should include, because I think there's a number of rental properties on the other side of Dorchester as well. That can easily be modified. but there is synergy with having one contiguous area as a rental inspection district in terms of being able to have staff stay in one concentrated area, perform inspections and basically implant themselves in that area and issue out notices of violation, communicate with the residents and property owners to gather information. but it's also important to note that there are other noteworthy enforcement tools that some of the other cities are utilizing right now right now at this moment uh rental inspector inspection district is one there's one that's not on this list it's called derelict structures i'm not sure that that would apply to the um to the uh the dorchester apartment development uniform statewide building code in general so whenever you get a complaint that's slightly different than a rental inspection district but they both their enforcement arm is the uniform statewide building code city code and health code comes into play zoning enforcement code that's land use it is a development and it does have a site and it's supposed to be maintained uh nuisance abatement code typically with trash debris and other items that might be out there and then one thing that a lot of people may overlook is housing quality standards the proliferation of the um folks that are rentally renting uh in in the area may have vouchers or section eight as I've come to understand it. So if I'm not mistaken, and we have Miss Blue here from the Housing Authority, but when you have when you have housing units and developments that are funded under federal funds, 24 CFR, They may be subject particular in this case section 8 vouchers and certificates They may be subject to what they call HQ s standards They're not exactly the same as a uniform statewide building code. However, I've been It's been my experience that sometimes they overlap so but it's a different type of inspector. It's a federal inspection process So why are we here today? It's not for council to take an action per se. It's to have that discussion amongst council that this by all means would not be an end all. This is a tool to see if it can make a difference in the Dorchester apartment development complex. There may be a time at some point in the future that you may decide to expand that to different areas around the city. But adopting one, you got to start someplace. And this is a rather large area to start. So what staff is coming here today is to basically say, maybe this is going to be a pilot program. Maybe this is something that council would like to start off with. Be able to hire an inspector where primarily their job is to focus on and see what difference that can make through issuing notices of violation, talking to residents, uh we don't want to issue fines and go to court if we don't have to but that would be the person's job is to stay on that and i'll say this a lot of times these things happen because of lack of property maintenance people don't maintain and manage their properties so that forces the city to do the same thing now i'll say this the other cities have the same problem i came from three other cities to the east Newport News, Norfolk and Suffolk, and all three of them have rental inspection districts. And we also have the city zoning administrator here, and he came from Portsmouth and they have them over there as well. Rental inspection districts. So those other cities are doing it and they've been doing it for years. So a lot of this goes back almost two decades or more. So I was part of that group in the General Assembly subcommittee working with the delegates that were there when they created this years ago. so have a little bit of knowledge in that on the background of this so we will be talking if this is the preferred way council would like to start this if that's what the preference of council is we would need staffing we would have to talk about hiring an inspector and maybe offsetting the cost burden by increasing fees the state code allows that that's what other cities have considered as well If that's the if that's the preference of council, we can put more shape and form behind a potential ordinance and a clear map, I think, and make that change, if you will, the aerial pictometry and maybe work some numbers around how much it would cost for an inspectors and how that relates to fees and so forth. So Didn't know if council had any questions on this. I tried my best to answer it. But I think the vice mayor, myself, and I think some of the stakeholders that were there that night shared their thoughts. They know something needs to be done. And I did want to make sure it was understood in my understanding. This is not a redevelopment housing authority property. It's not managed by them. But it is subsidized heavily by Section 8 certificates vouchers, if I understand it correctly.

Okay. We'll start with Dr. Johnson, work our way around. Any questions, comments?

I have a comment.

Yes, sir.

Basically, I think that it's a good concept. I would like to see it added to the rest of our public housing because I know I have one in my ward that they have problems keeping the lights on in certain areas, basically. And we looked at the trash issue as well. I think it's a tool that is needed basically to help Thank you, let's get you Thank you, sir

Thank you so much. Um, as counselors know that we have been having tremendous issues at Dorchester, so this is a good program and I'm totally in favor. Yeah.

THIS IS REMINISCENT OF A PROGRAM THAT I BROUGHT BEFORE COUNCIL, THE MULTI-DWELLING INSPECTION PROCESS OR ORDINANCE. I HAVE TO ECHO COUNCILMAN JOHNSON'S SENTIMENTS. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THIS THROUGHOUT THE CITY OPPOSED TO AN INSPECTION DISTRICT BECAUSE WE HAD A PROBLEM WITH BERKELEY COURT. where we had an explosion there and the people were left in a bad condition as far as having to use potty showers and their electricity was out for quite some time and the landlords who were not local, they dragged their feet on fixing it. So that was where the concept came from of having some sort of an ordinance that held multifamily dwellings accountable. So I like this, but I would like to see it constructed, you might say, so that we can address any rental properties throughout our city with the same vigor to address those issues. But thank you for getting it started.

Thank you for your time to working on this program. I think it's very well needed and I agree that I would like to see it across the whole city. That way is it's done correctly.

I think you have consensus from council on this at this point.

So Mayor what I would final comments is I think I got my marching orders now to proceed and but I didn't want to diminish the comments that were made by the other council members as well that as we can get our strong foothold I think in Dorchester apartment development Uh, we would like to expand and to perhaps, uh, assign and consider other, uh, uh, rental inspection districts or concentrated code enforcement in certain areas. So we'd love to have that ongoing dialogue, um, as part of council's priorities. So just wanted to share that.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Freedman. Thank you, mayor council. Uh, I think we have, uh, Mr. Heck back up for us for the, um, final.

item on the agenda of the work session of the work session i know you all are short of time so i'll be really big big time you have the you have our economic impact report in front of you so the um for people on television the franklin business center is a business incubator managed by franklin's with hampton economic development owned by the city that we administer that currently has 35 businesses that have 78 full-time and 26 part-time employees. Those tenants pay about $166,500 worth of rent to the city as part of their occupancy at the business center and generate a significant amount of business investment. While jobs have dropped as some of the mix of businesses have changed in the past year, occupancy remains at its historic average at 81%. and business revenues are up. We have a couple engineering firms that really drive the totals forward, and the graphs that you see will show that, that the average salary of business center businesses is just over $77,000, which is significantly higher than The city and the county as a whole and you see the contracts which largely are driven by the engineering companies the Summit engineering which one of our anchor tenants that's been there for quite a while drives a lot of that We also have the wallets corporation a swam certified business that's been doing a lot of business with people along with the city and other They've done a lot with the food Lion Plaza since they sold so I mean They're a very active, positive client that's added enough of employees this year as well. So that's basically our report. We continue on. There are spaces available. The Franklin Business Center Advisory Board approved three new businesses at their meeting this month that one has already signed a lease. We have a second one coming in tomorrow to do that. So things are on the upswing, but there are spaces available. So if people are interested, send them our way.

Thank you very much. Any questions from council? Dr. Johnson?

No.

Well, I'm on board with that. I understand. I think we're doing a good job. I think you are too. I think you are too.

And let's just move forward.

Yeah. Mr. Kitchen?

I think likewise, Mr. Johnson.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Banks. Comments?

Thank you all for the hard work that you're putting forward and striving forward to other businesses.

I appreciate that. Thank you. I do want to mention that we are continuing to do field fingerprinting services, so if people need that service, we've been doing it for just over a year. We've had about 650 people come in that get that service. It's amazing how many different kinds of businesses there are and what where people tell us that they come from, Hereford County and Newport News and places like that that don't have the service, but we do offer that in the building and it has brought a lot of people in the building and actually has brought us a couple business leads as well. So I mean, it's an interesting service. We get the cycles of summer camp season to schools are in session now, so everybody has to get fingerprint for the various schools comes through the building now. So we continue to look for those kind of value-added opportunities where we can serve the public.

And I would say as a tenant with what I call my day job, I would be in Suffolk if it wasn't there. So it keeps that money in Franklin and keeps that job in Franklin or those jobs in Franklin. I would still live here, but I would be driving back and forth every day. It's a great opportunity for businesses to stay here in Franklin. Thank you so much. Thank you. That brings us to the end of the work session. We need to have a motion to end the work session. A motion? Anybody here? Go ahead.

I'll make a motion.

A motion and a second. And all in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And aye. Do we need any time? Anybody need any time? Okay. All right. We'll move right on. All right. Ending meeting number one and starting meeting number two. All right. Call the meeting to order. Roll call, Dr. Johnson. Present. Mr. Kitchen. Present. Ms. Banks. Ms. Copeland. Present. Ms. McElmore. Present. And Mr. Grizzard. Present. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll turn off your cell phones and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance by standing, please. to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

GREG BRUDNICKI.

It brings us to citizens' time. And I have Breon. Is it a? Breon here? OK, I'm sorry. I can't read your last name. Is it Ophelia? Yes, sir. GREG BRUDNICKI. OK. If you'll state your.

name and address my name is you'll have three minutes the lights will keep you posted when it starts flashing that you got 30 seconds but no it won't come on until you do oh my name is briante ophelia um i'm a resident here in city of franklin at 179 broad street um i'm here for a couple of reasons one first i would like to ask the council who is responsible for the spending of the police department money. Reason being is because this past week we just had a SWAT team downtown Franklin. And the reason being was an inaccurate statement by the police department. We have a SWAT team downtown Franklin which I consider harassment behind a hand-to-hand altercation outside of a building. The way that they spoke to the surrounding businesses, people in the community was just unacceptable. That's a waste of money. I mean, overall it just UNACCEPTABLE. PHONE CALLS HAVE BEEN MADE. WE HAVE BEEN MAN-DENIED CONVERSATIONS NUMEROUS TIMES. BUT IT WAS PAINTED A PICTURE FOR SOMETHING THAT IT WASN'T. AND I JUST WANT TO SAY ON BEHALF OF THE BUSINESS THAT I'M A BOARD MEMBER OF, THAT WE ARE NOT BRINGING NO TROUBLE TO THE CITY OF FRANKLIN. We do so much good in this community, nobody talks about it. We don't wanna be the ones that's known for, because you did something good. We just wanna be the ones that actually do it. We give back way too much to this community and nobody sees it. Some people do, some people is in this room, but a lot of people turn their blind eye to the good. But now you have something on Facebook, on the news, SHOULDN'T BE UP THERE MAKING THE CITY LOOK WORSE ALL BECAUSE YOUR POLICE CHIEF IS MAKING BAD DECISIONS WITH THE CITY'S MONEY THAT'S WHAT TEAM COSTS A LOT OF MONEY JUST THINK ABOUT THAT AND I COACH IN THE CITY OF FRANKLIN ONE OF MY ATHLETES GOT KILLED THERE'S A VIDEO THEY DIDN'T BRING A SWAT TEAM FOR THAT BUT YOU BRING A SWAT TEAM for a fight in the street.

I rest my case. Thank you. And we, we're not allowed to make comments. Yes. Okay. All right. That's the only person on the, um, citizen's time. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented? So moved. Do I have a second?

Second.

Any discussion? All right. I'll take the start with Dr. Johnson. Come around the horn. Aye. aye aye aye aye okay motion carried um we'll move on to we have several proclamations for our um collectively for our parks and recreation department in different different phases excuse me mr mayor yes before we go into that um we need to recognize um former mayor race team

Johnson Ashburn.

Oh, yes, ma'am. Present here. Yes. Former mayor. Yes. Thank you very much. I saw her come in, but didn't apologize.

Mr. Mayor, while he's doing recognizing, I would like to take a moment to recognize our candidate for U.S. Congress for the second district, Dr. Nela Delvino. Could you just stand? And she's taking the time to come to Franklin to check us out, support us.

Thank you very much for being here. All right. So we have several proclamations. Ms. Banks, if you'll read the first one.

proclamation for city of franklin farmers market week august 2nd through 8th 2026 whereas the city of franklin's farmers market plays a vital role in providing citizens with access to fresh locally grown produce and other agricultural products by harboring growth community and spirit and whereas the city of franklin's farmers market provides a vibrant and inclusive space to engage and foster relationships between consumers and local producers, and whereas the city of Franklin's farmers market contributes to the economic and social fabric of our community, creating a positive community experience and providing a connection to our citizens about their food and where it comes from, whereas the city of Franklin's farmers market serves as a significant outlet by which local producers market agricultural products by generating revenue that supports the sustainability of local farms, local producers and the revitalization of rural communities nationwide. And whereas the city of Franklin's farmers market also provides support and space to local bakers, artisans, crafters and other vendors that are vital to our community. Now, therefore, I, Paul Kaplan, mayor of the city of Franklin, do hereby proclaim August 2nd through 8th, 2026 as the city of Franklin's Farmers Market Week in the city of Franklin, Virginia. And I urge all people in our city to join me in this special observance.

Thank you very much. I have a motion to accept this proclamation.

So moved.

And I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. We'll start with the vote with Dr. Johnson. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. And aye. Unanimous. Sam, do you want to do this all at one time or do you want to come up individually for each? Okay. I'm sorry. Did you want to say a few things? No?

whatever you guys want to do. Good evening, Mayor Kaplan, members of council, and city manager. Tonight I'm excited to recognize Mary Vick as a star performer. Mary's hard work and dedication has helped the Franklin's Farmers Market on Market on Main earn the gold certification from the Virginia Farmers Market Association, the highest certification a market can receive in the state of Virginia. She has gone above and beyond to strengthen the market, support our vendors, and create a great experience for our residents. This recognition is well deserved and reflects the impact Mary continues to make on our community. Congratulations, Mary, and thank you for representing the city of Franklin and the Parks and Recreation Department so well.

Ms. Freeman, we don't need to vote on this one.

Did you have anything you wanted to say?

Just thank you for this opportunity. Okay.

Thank you very much.

We have a second proclamation for Parks and Recreation Month. Vice Mayor?

Whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the city of Franklin, and whereas parks and recreation promotes health and wellness, improving physical and mental health of people who live near parks, and whereas parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature, which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being, and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders, and Alzheimer's. And whereas Parks and Recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas Parks and Recreation is a leading provider of healthy meals, nutrition services, and education, And whereas parks and recreation programming and education activities such as out of school time programming, youth sports and environmental education are critical to childhood development. And whereas parks and recreation increases a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses and crime reduction. and whereas parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community, and whereas parks and recreation is an essential and adaptable infrastructure that makes our communities resilient in the face of natural disasters and climate change, and whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. And whereas the U S house of representatives has designated July as parks and recreation month. And whereas the city of Franklin recognized the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. Now, therefore be a proclaimed by Franklin city council that July is recognized as parks and recreation month in the city of Franklin, Paul Kaplan made.

All right. I have a motion to accept this one. I move second motion. A second. Any discussion? I'll start with Dr. Johnson. Aye. aye aye aye aye aye and i and we'll do the we have one more for for uh parks and recreation professionals day mr grizzard proclamation designation of july 17 2026 as parks and recreation professionals day whereas the city of franklin

City Council recognizes that the parks and recreation field is a diverse and comprehensive system that improves personal, social, environmental, and economic health, and whereas the City of Franklin Council recognizes the importance and benefits of park and recreation services that enrich the lives of its citizens and help make this community a desirable place to live, work, and visit. And whereas the Franklin City Council supports the skilled work of parks and recreation professionals to strengthen community cohesion and resiliency, connect people with nature and each other, and provide and promote opportunities for healthful living, social equality, and environmental sustainability, I'm sorry. And whereas the city, Council values the essential services that park and recreation professionals and volunteers perform to provide recreational and developmental enrichment for our children, youth, adults, and older adults, and to ensure our parks and recreational spaces are clean, safe, inclusive, welcoming, and ready to use. Now therefore it be resolved that Franklin City Council does hereby proclaim July the 17th, 2026 is park and recreation professionals day in the city of Franklin adopted this 27th day of July, 2026, Paul Kaplan mayor.

All right. I have a motion.

So moved. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion being none. I'll take the vote. Dr. Johnson.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. And I unanimous again, and I have the whole department come forward this time. Oh, yes, that'd be great.

I'm sorry I do want to introduce some of the staff that was able to make it tonight this is Bailey Wickerson she is our special events coordinator so she handles all the special events we have Miss Mary Vic here she is our farmer's market manager we have JaVale Graham here she is our admin assistant and we have Ryan who is our athletic specialist for the city so they were able to join us we are missing two or three some are still working at the center but I'm glad for them to be able to come tonight and be recognized and I want to thank you all personally for everything that you guys do for us

and the city. Just want to say thank you. My summer. This is the last week for Camp Courageous in the city of Franklin, and we have went to the pool every Friday and the staff has been amazing. So thank you. And then I know when I've called the center to get a meeting space, JaVale always helps. So thank you. And I get the emails from Bailey. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And to your awesome director, Samara, we appreciate you.

Yes, I would like to thank you. for the job that you're doing and for some of the exciting things that we're gonna do in the future together. Thank you.

Good job, y'all. Thank you very much.

Thank you for a job well done.

I just want to say, uh, Ms. Searles, Samara Searles, you are fantastic. You're one of our longest serving department heads. And I am so proud of the development that you've made since you you've been here. How many years have you been with us now? Since 2014. That's a long time. Thank you so much. And thank you to all the department, uh, recreation department people. Thank you for all you do for our city.

I'd just like to echo those comments and thank you for everything you're doing and the future we're going to have together.

And I also want to echo what everybody said. You guys are serving, providing opportunities for children that they may never have gotten. And that's just a beautiful thing. Is there so many who want to come here? Chad, if you want to share.

There you go.

Okay.

all right um housing authority appointments do we have somebody for both wards ward six and ward four two um let's take them in order we'll go with ward ward two first you have a nomination i do have a nomination regina hill okay is this hill here was she no no i don't see her here okay but thank you very much um do we need to vote on these individually Okay.

I'll second that motion.

Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Being none, we'll take a vote. Start with Dr. Johnson. Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. And aye. Thank you. Well, you're not here, but I'm sure she'll be watching. And Ward 6.

So there was some discussion the last time about the person that was still in that seat. That's why we hadn't moved forward, but I do have a name, so.

Yeah, that, that person resigned at this point, hadn't he?

That, that, that is correct. So that position has been vacated in writing, uh, to the satisfaction of the housing authority as well as, uh, to the city clerk.

Thank you. So at this time I would like to appoint Lisa justice for ward six.

All right. Is Ms. Justice here by the chance? Okay. Um, have a second, make that a form of motion. And the second, we have a motion in a second. Any discussion? All right. Start, start with Dr. Johnson. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Abstain. Aye.

And aye. All right. Um, we're on to you, Mr. Freeman with introduced papers, the advancement of the, uh, utility board.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, if I can just comment briefly, this is one of council's priorities is to adopt and create utility advisory board councils work very, very hard. They made it clear during the retreat. This is one of their priorities. That's what you all want to do. And I think I've been wanting to do this for actually a number of years. So a lot of work has gone into it. I believe a copy was sent out right after or actually almost uh around a couple of weeks ago or so uh at the last council meeting and we tried to put some shape and form do track changes and so forth and really we want to i think it's more important to get it right uh and but we wanted to put the ordinance there based on all the the last strikethroughs, track changes, and everything else that has come about. So what you have in front of you, while you see a lot of colors in there, this, that, and other thing, I think Kyle knows how to clean it up. He just wants to know what is the prevailing pleasure of council in terms of a resolution that you all can live with.

OK, so this is we're not voting tonight. We're just this is just a read through. Is that correct?

It could be a read through. It could be if you feel that all the changes have been reflected. Again, I would say to the council, if it's one of those things that you feel is more important to get it right. Um, I know, I know it's important for council to, uh, tap the folks that you'd like to see on, on the board. Um, and it's something you've been trying to do for a while. So, uh, uh, that, that would be my comment. This is, it's your pleasure. The pleasure of council. Okay.

So I will say that we did get the email. If he asked for revisions by the next day, I was out of town looking what I did see. I was okay with it and I do know that some revisions were additionally made. So just wanna say thank you for the hard work that went into it and the communication in a timely fashion before we got to this night to have the availability to read it and make revisions.

I do have one thing that was brought to my attention over the weekend, and it's clearly stated in here that we shall have a board that consists of seven members. Each member should represent, be a resident of the city or a customer of the city utilities. It was brought to my attention that we hadn't thought about anyone for those other customers, such as a representative for South Hampton, Allah white or the small area of the city of Suffolk that we, that was added.

Uh, it's one of the red lines on, uh, membership section three. Um, I asked that the, that, that as the, uh, person picking the, one of the revisions I asked for was as the person, uh, sitting at large, maybe I could, I had the option of picking I or whoever was mayor at the time, have the option of picking somebody who was a, was a customer, but not a resident. So each one of the members could have somebody from their ward. But I think that was taken out, too. It could just be a customer. That's the yellow. But the at-large person could definitely be somebody that was maybe a commercial customer or a residential customer outside the city limits.

I don't disagree, but are we doing them justice by only allowing one representative for those three areas when each one of us have one for our ward? I agree.

So you would have, are we still?

Nine, go to nine. And that way you could include somebody from Isle of Wight and somebody from South Hampton.

Are we still providing services to Suffolk? I was thinking we no longer provided service to Suffolk. I could be wrong.

It was a small area. Bill's Corner area. Bill's Corner. It was a very small area.

Yeah. I was thinking that some years ago they dropped Bill's Corner and they transferred. But I don't know that's right.

Nine is good.

I agree. Okay.

Are you intending for that person that comes from the other locality to actually be a customer as well? Yes.

You can add that for us. And how will we select that person since? Nominations or put it in the newspaper?

was consensus are you yeah I think that's fair if you know somebody that's interested you can bring their name up yeah yeah yeah I don't while we have

significant number of people from Isle of Wight and South Hampton that are customers, very few from Suffolk. But I think to include one or two and not include the third, I think that would not be good.

Are we going to eliminate Suffolk or are we going to wait until we find out? Because that's nine if we add the South Hampton and Isle of Wight. The other one was Suffolk?

It's a very small area. Beale's Corner area is what they used to serve. I'm not sure if they still do.

Well, we can certainly find that out.

I think we need to be clear on each area before we do a selection.

Yeah, I agree.

Well, if we don't say we find out that Suffolk is not with us anymore, that would take us back to eight. But we can use that ninth position for that city representative to sit on that board. Remember, we were talking about having a city representative.

That's still in here. Yeah.

not a city council member, uh, a city employee that could help guide those citizens.

That's that's in here. Number six.

Okay. Maybe they, cause are they for us to sit on the board?

No.

Well, that's what I'm saying. Maybe to, to bring the number to nine, we could have that person actually sit on the board as well.

So let's investigate that whether Suffolk's involved or not. And, um, we could always, I started saying we could remove the at large one, if we want, if we're trying to keep it an odd number, if, if we find itself. All right.

So we're, we're, so we're, we're good at tabling it one more time to figure out. Yeah, I think so. Okay.

I, I have one other question. Sure. Are we settled on the qualifications of the individuals that we are selecting?

No, I thought we said we did as long as they are a citizen, a customer,

right yeah yeah we had some difference on that we did we did i i think if we declare that i think if and i think i initially was in favor of saying they had to have certain qualifications to be other than a customer but i i think that um the everyday customer

should be have just as much opportunity to be only just like a member of council you don't have to have just have to be a registered voter if we're bringing the fourth for nomination then i mean i'm just going to guess that we're going to do our due diligence and making sure that that person yeah so we've eliminated the council person selecting someone from their ward we've eliminated that no no no well my other thing was if if we look at that from that perspective

then um if we look at the model that we have from manassas and let's see what manassas did um basically with it if if they were selecting because they've been established for over 20 years right so we don't need to try to reinvent the wheel but kyle just just so i'm clear um we we're doing

All the wards will bring forth a person they nominate, and council will vote, or all council, council will vote after that on each ward member. And then you'll also do the same thing with the three or two for the localities.

And they're at large.

Okay. I'm going to be at large. I think that's a little bit different to what Mr. McElmore was referring to.

Yeah, because I thought that the council person would be able to pick somebody from their ward. We did say that. Yeah, because otherwise, if we're going to have a person from our ward and we go that route that you just mentioned, then if council, if I approve, if I say appoint Ms. Blue, just picking somebody, I'm not picking on you, Ms. Blue, but if I say I'd like Ms. Blue from my ward and she doesn't pass council, then do I get to pick another person from my ward? And if you don't approve that one, I gotta pick it. Just let the council person I don't think they should be voting on. I think the council should be, the members should be able to appoint somebody from their ward.

You're right. So what I can do to save you all some, I guess, deliberation now, I can create two versions and you all can vote on how you want to proceed if you want to proceed with voting on each person or you just want to bring it forward like Mr. McElwain was referring to.

Okay. And then in the meantime it would be easy enough to find out if Suffolk is still a service area.

All right. Just to give an example. and I don't mean to pull out anybody, but Ms. Boone, who happens to be present tonight, Dorothy Boone, who we just appointed to the school board, she's been consistently coming to city council meetings and school board meetings. There may be a citizen from your ward that you feel as though is been a, you know, they're really interested, but they don't have an electric background. So, you know, if you nominate him for your award, I think we should be able to support you in your recommendation.

I think if we tried to limit it to elect somebody with an electrical background, we'd be, we'd be, we wouldn't get nobody begging people to serve.

But it still requires a vote. Like Ms. Boone was definitely, um, she interviewed, but it still requires a vote. At the end of the day, we all had to vote and majority voted for her to be on. I don't think that this board should be any different. Why would we change up that rule for this board? It needs to be voted upon by a capital and majority, just like every other thing that we do up here.

Okay, and if you'll put put those two options together and and and we'll give us a couple weeks to ball it over All right. Thank you very much City managers report

Mayor counsel, the only thing I would report on is I attended the CIPSA meeting last week and I did ask if the governor's appointment to the CIPSA board representing Franklin has been appointed yet. So that still had not been done. So that's still pending. So I just wanted to report out on that. As soon as I find out, I did ask our CIPSA rep and she said she would reach out again to the governor's office. So I know they've got a lot going on. So as soon as they find out, they're going to let me know. And as soon as I find out, I'm going to let council know.

All right. All right. Boards and commissions, anything? I'll start with Dr. Johnson. Can we do boards and commissions and council comments at the same time so we can move along? Anybody have a problem with that? Okay. Dr. Johnson? Either or both.

I have nothing for the boards and commissions. My comment is that let us be unified and work together for the common cause of our citizens because that's what we're elected for. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Nothing.

No comment.

Okay, I have three announcements. Saturday, August 1st, 2026 at 5 p.m. Scotts Revival Center Church Choir Reunion celebrating 60 years, of course, at Scotts Revival Church. Again, that's Saturday, August 1st, 2026 at 5 p.m. The honorary street dedication and sign unveiling celebration for Brigadier General Baxter is Saturday, August 8th, 11 a.m. The corner of Banks and Mariner Streets. Community event, Fashion Show Food Fund Fellowship, Saturday, August 8th, 2026, 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. at Barris Landing. Tickets are $35 each. Contact Ms. Hatch or Ms. Hunt and I have their telephone numbers.

uh i have a couple uh first i'd like to say the ward three meeting uh that we had last uh this month was attended by the city manager as well as um parks and recreation and miss boone representing ward three i appreciate them all coming out answering questions And also, Vice Mayor was our special guest came in, and I want to thank her for her being in attendance. We've both been going to each other's meetings. And I would like to say that I recognized earlier the candidate running for Congress. It's my opinion that we should invite all candidates because the people need to know what these people stand for that are soliciting our votes. They're going to be representing us regardless of what party they're from. They should be invited to come and speak to our citizens by way of the TV so that we get a chance to hear what these people stand for before we cast our votes. oftentimes we vote on popularity and not knowing the position of the people. So I want you to know that I did just, um, Mr. Kitchen, I want you to know that, um, all the candidates were reached out to, to be able to come and be recognized. And, um, Because I know you were the former chair of the Republican Committee. So the only one that apparently showed up was Dr. Naylor. But I think that we need to look at modifying our procedures so that all people who will be representing us come before the body to give our citizens an opportunity to hear from those particular candidates. And finally, I just wanna say that our next ward meeting is gonna be on August 17th, and hopefully, I'm not sure we haven't shored it up yet, but the special guests hopefully will be our two new city managers, and we can introduce them to ward three. at that time so that is going to be august 17th at the um which is a monday night at the franklin library and that's all i have thank you at uh that's going to start at 5 30. oh also election day is november 4th make sure you guys get out and vote if you haven't voted august 3rd third third i wouldn't want to i wouldn't want to send you a day late What day is it? August 4th. That's what I thought I said. Yeah, that's what I thought I said, August 4th.

Okay.

I have no comments other than thank you all to the ones that came out tonight. I was glad to see a good crowd out. Thank you.

My final comments are me. I love to have our candidates come, but I don't think this should be a forum for their, for their reelection. Uh, speeches, but I do like to have them come out and maybe we can, we can have a, uh, a local forum, not, not at the city council meeting. Um, our next meeting is August the 10th at 10, excuse me, at August the 10th at 7 0 PM.

And if I have a motion to air before you get me, I'm sorry I was remissed in my responsibility during the city managers remarks that want to introduce our deputy city manager. Yes, I'm sorry. So Chad if you could go up to the podium, please I'm putting you on the spot before everybody runs so Council, I know you've had a chance to meet Chad Brown and hear about him, but I'm pleased to see Chad Brown join the team. His official title is the Deputy City Manager for Finance, Budget, and Business Services. So that is a long title, but you got to see the amount of work that's in his job description. That's even longer. So he has a very lengthy repertoire from the private sector dealing with money and auditing. And he has held similar positions with the city of New Orleans. And so he comes with a very extensive background that I think can be very, very helpful to the city of Franklin. And he's already met all of the many people in the city. So we are excited about him hitting the ground running and happy that he's joined the team. So we're looking for a lot of great things out of Chad Brown. So welcome to the team.

No, thank you. I think just to be brief, I look forward to working with all of you. I'm excited and I'm here to support and to operationalize your priorities. So I'm excited to work with David and it's a pleasure to meet you all.

Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. All right. With that final note, I'll take a motion to adjourn. Motion and second. All those opposed say nay. How about that?